Eric Sears

Eric is a Senior Program Officer at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. He leads MacArthur’s grantmaking to strengthen civil liberties and civil rights in the digital age, and address the social and rights-based implications of new and emerging technologies through research, policy, and practice. He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, and the Future of Trust Network. Eric has previously worked at Human Rights First in New York City and Amnesty International USA in Washington, D.C. where he carried out a range of research and advocacy initiatives. While at Amnesty, Eric launched and managed the organization’s campaign aimed at reforming U.S. counterterrorism policies and helped establish the organization’s Crisis Prevention and Response program. Eric holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and a BA from Saint Louis University.